Progressing through the CEFR levels

The CEFR helps us understand the different levels of language proficiency. It also helps us understand how
learners progress through the levels.

The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) of which Cambridge English Language Assessment
is a founding member estimates that learners typically take the following guided learning hours to
progress between levels. Guided learning hours means time in lessons as well as tasks you set them to do.
You will notice that it takes longer to progress a level as learners move up the scale. Of course, learners will
vary in how long they take depending on many factors.

CEFR Level Guided Learning Hours

C2 Approximately 1,0001,200

C1 Approximately 700800

B2 Approximately 500600

B1 Approximately 350400

A2 Approximately 180200

A1 Approximately 90-100

This means that many learners will follow more than one course to progress from one level to the next.
We can also use the + to indicate the top half of a level. For example, B1+ means the top half of the B1
range. You will find this convention followed on Cambridge course books.

We are also working on a project to define in more detail the linguistic knowledge typically mastered at
each CEFR level for English. This programme is called English Profile and theres more information on this
later in this booklet. This more precise information helps teachers get a better idea of how to break down
the learning for each CEFR level into different classes within their school or college.

4 Cambridge University Press 2013